ISSUE DETAILS

Cover Description: Booster Gold stands between Rip Hunter and Peter Platinum. The design of the cover to this issue is intentionally evocative of the covers tying-into the DC One Million mini-series in 1998. Curiously, although Booster finds himself in the year 1,000,000 in this issue, the events of the storyline took place not in the 1,000th century, but in the 853rd century, as that would be the century in which DC Comics would release Action Comics #1,000,000 (assuming issues are released continuously in consecutive months from 1998 until then). Therefore this issue's cover motif is canonically about 1,470 years too late, which makes a DC One Million tie-in comic book released in 2008 seem practically punctual by comparison.

Brief Synopsis: Booster Gold struggles with the question of his own future.

Booster Gold's role in this story:Featured (Booster Gold plays a prominent role)

ANNOTATIONS

Page 1, panel 4Propelled through the time stream following the actions of the second Blue Beetle at the conclusion to Booster Gold, Vol. 2, #10, Booster Gold and Skeets II find themselves in the far future for the first time. Presumably Beetle's actions were successful and history has been restored to it's appropriate path, meaning that this time is destined to be the future of the recognized DC Universe.

Page 3, panel 3HIS STORY: For the first time, Booster Gold meets Peter Platinum, his spiritual, if not biological, descendent. Platinum is modeled after the "old" Booster Gold, a vain, self-promoting attention hound. Peter is well aware of Booster's history as a hero in the 21st century, indicating that Booster's legacy may be stronger than previously indicated.

Page 3, panel 6Despite Skeets' previous claim that they are in the year 1,000,000, Peter Platinum claims to be interested in joining the Justice Legion Alpha, the 853rd century equivalent to the Justice League of America as seen in the DC One Million mini-series. If Skeets' assessment of the current time period is accurate, the Justice Legion has some incredible durability, surviving as an organization for more than 1,000 years.

Page 5, panel 1Peter Platinum's negotiations for the rights to Booster's "gimmick" is interrupted by the timely intervention of Rip Hunter, Daniel Carter, and Rose Levin in a Time Sphere. It soon becomes apparent that Hunter and Platinum have encountered one another previously. Peter mentions that he has purchased his "time tech" from the Scavenger, a time-traveling collector of powerful technology who frequently crossed paths with Superboy.

Page 6, panel 4Frustrated by his string of recent failures and taunted by the mere existence of Peter Platinum, Booster Gold quits as Hunter's partner.

Page 8, panel 2In a similar confrontation as seen in Booster Gold, Vol. 2, #1, the next day Booster finds himself once again battling the Royal Flush Gang in the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Skeets snarkily sings the Elvis Presley song "Viva Las Vegas.") At this rate, the Royal Flush Gang will soon become known as Booster's arch-enemies.

Page 10, panel 1Providing a timely assist against the Royal Flush Gang are the "Hard Traveling-Heroes" Green Arrow and Green Lantern II (Hal Jordan), explaining that they are in Las Vegas "for the title fight." Is it ironic that two men who fight criminals as a hobby would travel cross-country to watch two men fight one another as a sport?

Page 11, panel 2Responding to a summons, Booster and Skeets travel to the Batcave. Booster's trips to the Batcave have become rather frequent in recent years, having invaded Batman's sanctuary in the pages of Infinite Crisis, 52, and now in his own series. Batman is apparently willing to accept that it is impossible to keep a traveler of time and space out of the Batcave.

Page 11, panel 3Booster's complaints about Batman's attitude are not entirely accurate. In addition to the fact that there is no evidence that Batman has ever indicated that Booster would trade his "best friend for a toothpaste commercial," Batman was an early supporter of Booster Gold, and his only complaint about Booster when he joined the Justice League in Justice League #4 was Booster's excessive exuberance. The complaints came later, when Booster Gold and Blue Beetle refused to take their involvement in the League seriously.

Page 12, panel 1Batman shows Booster Gold the pictures that the Joker took when Booster tried to save Barbara Gordon from the Clown Prince of Crime as seen in Booster Gold, Vol. 2, #5. Batman has known of these pictures since he seized them from the Joker shortly after the crime. Because the pictures showed Booster in a different costume than he wore as a member of the Justice League at the time (Batman: The Killing Joke was published in 1988, but Booster joined the Justice League a year earlier in 1987), Batman has been waiting in the years since to thank the time-traveling Booster for his efforts.

Page 15, panel 3SCHOOL'S IN: Following Batman's pep talk, Booster returns to Rip Hunter's lab to resend his resignation with the Time Master. In addition to the typical cryptic scribblings on Hunter's blackboard (including "Booster Gold - Armageddon 2001?!?"), Booster is in for another surprise...

Page 16, panel 1SPOILER WARNING!: ...the return of Michelle Carter, Booster's twin sister. Michelle has been presumed dead since Booster Gold, Vol. 1, #22. Hunter explains that because she is from the future and therefore displaced in time, she is not necessarily subject to the same rules of "solidified time" as others, such as Ted Kord, are. Michelle wears the original Goldstar costume she was wearing (for the first time) in her previous appearance, though at the time, that costume was shown in tatters. (Ah, the complexities of time travel....)Reveal

Page 18, panel 4FASHION ALERT: For the first time since his redesign following the events of 52, someone finally comments on Skeets' new look. Even Skeets feels compelled to comment that "someone finally noticed." The dialogue reveals nothing about how much of the first Skeets' memories of Michelle Skeets II retains.

Page 19, panel 7SPOILER WARNING!: As Booster, Skeets, and Michelle depart in a Time Sphere for Paris in 1889 (to witness the construction of the Eiffel Tower, which opened to the public in May of that year), Rip Hunter calls Booster Gold "Dad." This is the first indication that Booster will have a son, and it adds a bizarre new wrinkle in the history of Rip Hunter and his relationship with Booster Gold. Text narration indicates that Booster's family will become the Time Masters of the future, though it is uncertain if this indicates Daniel Carter and Rose Levin.Reveal

Page 20, panel 1FASHION ALERT: For the first time Skeets is seen accessorizing, wearing a stereotypically French black beret.

REVIEWS

Boosterrific Review: Despite the superficial connection to the DC 1 Million mini series published a decade earlier, this issue has nothing to do with the events of that story. Despite being titled as the conclusion to the previous story arc, this issue actually serves as more of an epilogue, tying up some metaphysical and emotional loose ends not resolved by the previous issue's slugfest. Despite all this misdirection, this is actually a pretty darn good comic book which includes a number of surprise twists and adds considerably to the mythology of Booster Gold.

This is the twelfth and final issue of the series for writing team Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz. Clearly the pair is trying to resolve some of their outstanding issues before departing. Yet they also add a few major twists for future writers of the series. (For some reason, this reminds me of DC Challenge, a 1985 series in which DC’s stable of writers tried to outdo one another with each successive issue.) In any event it will be very difficult for future writers to top the storytelling success of this writing team who managed to successfully transform a relatively obscure character into the centerpiece of a series of very entertaining comic books.

Boosterrific Rating:

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.

Worth Its Weight In Gold.

Average Fan Rating:

Currently 5.0/5 Stars.

(1 vote)

Currently 5.0/5 Stars.

KMD (Dec. 22, 2009, 12:01:58)Great issue with a lot of twists, laughs, action and moving moments. The scene with Batman was excellent and the family reunion was very sweet. The postscript about Booster always smiling--and the line about his lack of intelligence-was great,

YOUR OPINION

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